


Crystalline Sugar

by ASBusinessMagnet (CreativityTheEmotion)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 15:44:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14697276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativityTheEmotion/pseuds/ASBusinessMagnet
Summary: An AU about an all-female band formed in the 70s, and one of its members going through hardships later in life. Told primarily via in-universe lore and music because I can't be bothered to come up with an actual plot.





	Crystalline Sugar

_[Enter Rose Quartey, a chubbier-than-usual woman in her 60s with her hair dyed pink; she is wearing the same white dress she wore in the 1977 music video "Love Like You" by Crystalline Sugar, but now with a star cutout revealing that her bellybutton is pierced. She is carrying what looks like a schoolkid's bag. She walks past reporters and sits behind a table; the only object on the table is a glass vase with a single hibiscus. Noises of photos being taken are persistent. The camera the video is taken in appears to be unmanned and not moving.]_

**Quartey:** In the tradition of modern virtual press conferences on Reddit: I am Rose Quartey, the original lead vocalist of the 70s/80s all-female pop band Crystalline Sugar, who supposedly committed suicide in 1978. Ask me anything.

**Reporter 1:** Miss Quartey, I thought I would never see this day. Back in the day, rumors spread about your suicide possibly being fake and you continuing your career... How did you manage to stay out of the public eye for forty years?

**Quartey:** The simple answer is: I didn't. You have noticed the piercing, haven't you?

**Reporter 2:** It's similar to the one that the 80s solo artist Punk Diamond had. I presume you're a fan of hers?

**Quartey:** Only as much as I can be a fan of myself.

_[The reporters suddenly go dead silent.]_

**Quartey:** That's right. The theorists in the tabloids were completely right; Rose Quartey _is_ Punk Diamond. And, I presume, coverage on her throughout the years has been sufficient to let you know what I have been doing during my "absence". Just... scratch all the parts where Punk Diamond vehemently denied that she was Quartey.

_[The reporters gradually return to taking photos and making similar noises.]_

**Reporter 2:** You'll have to excuse us; not everyone here is familiar with Punk Diamond, much less the theorists.

**Quartey:** Do not quail, I've got this. _[She puts the bag on the table, zips it open and spills its contents on the table; they are various magazines and laminated pages from other magazines, all highlighting the same idea.]_

_[The camera, picked up briefly by an unseen reporter, pulls to the table and zooms in on one full magazine among single pages; the headline is "Rose Quartey Reborn - could 'Punk Diamond' actually be Crystalline Sugar's late lead singer?", then returns to its rough original position.]_

**Quartey:** I hope that settles it.

**Reporter 3:** The official media outlets still state, though, that you committed suicide successfully.

**Quartey:** About that suicide. Pretty much the worst moment of any suicide is when you open your eyes at the hospital, then slowly come to the realization that you've failed. And, given that you're already not at the best mental state prior to suicide, you can pick up dangerous ideas. Mine was simply to never publicize my recovery, then cover my tracks and rise to stardom once again.

**Reporter 1:** Did you tell _anyone_ that you survived?

**Quartey:** No. Other than the other Crystalline Sugar members, I just wasn't close with anyone, and because of the shaming I saw about me being the worst member of the band, it was for the best that I cut all ties. Or, at least, that was my reasoning back then; if I had the wisdom I have today, I might have done something else. I was fairly naive back then; when I realized I was more lonely than ever, I had the burning desire to take the matter and my own destiny in my own hands, and that meant distancing myself from my life together with Crystalline Sugar, but that is ultimately not the way to live for anyone.

**Reporter 1:** Do you think anyone who was formerly close to you knew?

**Quartey:** I think Rebecca figured out pretty early on. If you look at Crystalline Sugar's music shortly after I left, it's all about my loss being portrayed as a downright tragedy, and Rebecca braving on and becoming the new leader of the band in my absence. But such strength cannot be possible if you don't hold out hope that the one you lost is still there, and once word about Punk Diamond got around, I think Rebecca connected the dots. Again, she never told anyone - you have to stick with the story of my loss if you want most of Crystalline Sugar's songs to work - but she had to know.

**Reporter 4:** Is there anything you wish you could have told her?

**Quartey:** Not in particular; after all, even if she held out hope, the loss and the fact that we were not in contact dominated, and that's what made the messages in Crystalline Sugar's songs unique. Even if I did, though, it wouldn't have been much more than cookie-cutter stuff like "you're doing a great job". That kind of stuff. Not worth telling when critics can do that, in a refined way.

**Reporter 2:** What led you to collecting stories trying to connect your two identities?

**Quartey:** Well, first things first, this grassroots theory being true. _[Laughs.]_ And also, me being its main character. _[Laughs again.]_ But other than that, I was fascinated by the people who wanted to believe that, despite all the odds, Rose Quartey survived and did not completely give in to fat and gay shaming. I know that if someone else I knew had my story, I would root for their survival. I can't recount any examples from the music industry, which is the only part of the media circlejerk that I'm aware of, but I'm pretty sure there are more examples out there than just me.

**Reporter 2:** Once word got around, even if in highly unofficial realms, did you do anything about it?

**Quartey:** It's a difficult question to answer. I would say the breadcrumbs were always there: in the Love Like You video, I have my hair dyed pink, and never really got rid of that as Punk Diamond, even if I did end up going with a completely different hairstyle. There should also be plenty of clues whenever I and Crystalline Sugar did cross our paths, such as in the collaboration Stronger than You, where I take up the role of singer once again, but in a distinct voice.

**Reporter 3:** However, despite all this, the official story remained what it is up until this press conference.

**Quartey:** Which is exactly why my plan worked. By not publicizing the recovery, separating the identities and aiming for a style that is the polar opposite of Crystalline Sugar, I've helplessly confused everyone. If you look at those clippings and excerpts, the common theme is still, of course, that Rose Quartey is Punk Diamond, but beyond that, there is no consensus. There is even someone who suggested... _[She looks through the clippings, then finds the one she was looking for and hits it with her finger.]_ There we go! They suggested that Punk Diamond isn't a single artist, but a title of sorts that different artists take.

**Reporter 2:** But it's all just you, though?

**Quartey:** It's all just me.

**Reporter 1:** Why did you choose to reveal the truth now? You could have just as easily dropped the fact while still actively touring as Punk Diamond.

**Quartey:** No one wants to learn such a revelation in the middle of a concert. I simply couldn't have done it during Punk Diamond's prime. However, as years went on, the burden of the secret became unbearable, and the Internet and its capability of making a huge deal out of virtually anything just made the matters worse. As of lately, you can find a "Rose Quartey is Punk Diamond" video released every week or so. And watching them all, I wanted to scream that they are right, but have a lot of details wrong, but couldn't, because there were always the opponents who would go with the official story, which is that Rose Quartey is dead and any profile she might have on the Internet is fake. Even those who believe know I was always covert.

That's the thing with the modern Internet in general. It is very easy to lie, and it is very easy to get coverage for your lies. Thus, after I retired once again, this time as Punk Diamond, and looked forward to establishing myself here- I _wanted_ to have my profiles say I am Rose Quartey, but I also knew I would immediately be called out for being a fake, by both those who support the theory and those who oppose it. That, and the big reveal happening simply because I wanted a tick mark next to my Twitter account to be able to do a virtual AMA... that was simply too many steps to take. And that's why we're here, in person, the old-fashioned way, and that's why I look like any old lady who is completely inept when anything related to the Internet is considered.

**Reporter 4:** It is strange how, with the knowledge you have about the Internet, anyone would guess that you are actually in your twenties or thirties. Do you think it is not out of the question for anyone older to pick up on the intricacies?

**Quartey:** The truth is much more depressingly simple: because I had a completely secluded personal life, I had much more time to learn about everything after the star that was Punk Diamond faded. I lived alone, with no significant other, no romantic affair and no one to even consider romantically other than Rebecca, who had to officially assume I was dead. That was also coupled with the fact that public lesbians weren't as widely accepted as they are now, and if we were to enter a relationship, even ignoring the fact that some jerk reporter would spill the beans about Rose Quartey being alive, we would face prejudice... pretty much on the streets.

**Reporter 1:** That's just sad. Seeing this cruel and unforgiving world must have given your songs, while you were Punk Diamond, a lot more weight.

**Quartey:** It's no more sad than my life _before_ my supposed suicide. My father died before I was old enough to remember, so I lived with my mother and her two younger sisters, and believe me, it was hard to try and see anything through rose-tinted glasses. Physical abuse, not enough allowance money or possessions, being forced into roles I didn't want to have - all of this contributed to my psychological problems, and you would think meeting Rebecca and forming Crystalline Sugar would be the saving throw, but after the first single, all those problems were amplified and every piece of hate mail just hurt me more and more.

**Reporter 3:** We knew this wouldn't be a light-hearted interview, as you did come here with the only immediate event known about you being your attempted suicide...

**Quartey:** And ignoring the whole secret life I had as Punk Diamond?

**Reporter 3:** We had no way of knowing that in advance.

**Quartey:** The breadcrumbs were there. When people sent condolences - and when Crystalline Sugar regularly sent a share of the profit to Rose Quartey's next of kin... I don't _have_ any next of kin that I associate with, and those letters were never returned to sender, so _someone_ must have received them. The truth was relegated to the tabloids, but it was still out there.

However, other than that, you have a fair point about this getting more emotional than it needed to be. Empathy is the curse I was born with, and I certainly do not want to walk out of this press conference feeling sorry for myself simply because that's what my mom and aunts always said about me, so, I think it's fair if we cut the interview here, and now that I have established myself to some degree, I will be able to indulge deeper on the Internet, where no one will see my tears.

**Reporter 2:** Thank you for the time you gave us, Miss Quartey - or would you rather be Punk Diamond?

**Quartey:**  Actually, I would prefer to just be Rose, but I suppose Miss Quartey works too. Catch me on whichever Internet presence I decide to establish first, and this has been an exclusive interview. _[She stands up and walks around the table to behind the camera, then switches it off.]_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's idiotisms: At some point, "Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond" lost all meaning to me, so I changed a few letters and started pretending it's a completely novel idea. It happens.
> 
> Anyway, I hope I captured the "that one dream you had about Steven Universe" feeling, and here's a WIP of the in-universe Love Like You, just so you know I'm working on the music part of it all too: <http://homestuck.lt/crystalline/crystalline_1.mp3>


End file.
